Well over a month ago, reports surfaced about F-35s being delivered without radars.

As per usual, the mainstream media tried denigrating such info as “baseless conspiracy theories”.

However, with photographic evidence circulating online, it was very difficult to maintain this false narrative.

In addition, Lockheed Martin’s most significant product is already infamous for its numerous design flaws, hardware and software issues, notorious lack of robustness and poor kinetic performance. Thus, this new issue was hardly surprising to anyone who’s been following the troubled jet’s development. In my analysis at the time, I also pointed out the matter of severe chronic shortages of rare-earth elements (REEs).

It doesn’t take an expert to understand that Lockheed Martin needs these materials to build all the high-tech sensors and systems found on the F-35.

The most important active sensor of every modern fighter jet is the radar (essentially, its “eyes”). Combat aircraft have grown increasingly sophisticated and complex, requiring a larger percentage of expensive REEs in their construction. This has led to high demand for these materials, particularly in the latest radar variants. One of the most prominent examples of this is the Northrop Grumman’s AN/APG-85 AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, a heavily upgraded variant of their AN/APG-81 (which, in turn, is a successor to the AN/APG-77 found on the F-22).

The deeply troubled F-35 Block 4 requires that all newly-built jets come with the AN/APG-85 instead of the older AN/APG-81. The plan is to install these on all three F-35 variants, starting with Lot 17 onwards (since mid-2025). The key material in this effort is gallium nitride (GaN). Various US Military Industrial Complex (MIC) manufacturers are responsible for supplying GaN, which is then further refined by Northrop Grumman. The AN/APG-85 integrates over 2,400 Transmit/Receive (T/R) modules that form its core. The Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Microelectronics Center (AMC) in Maryland manufactures high-performance GaN-on-Silicon Carbide (GaN-on-SiC) semiconductors specifically for military use.

However, the AMC needs to acquire GaN from other suppliers, including American Qorvo and Wolfspeed (formerly Cree), Japanese Nichia Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Industries, German Infineon Technologies AG, etc. And yet, raw gallium also must come from somewhere. Typically a byproduct of aluminum and zinc mining, upwards of 98% of gallium is actually supplied by China. The Pentagon has always been uncomfortable having to rely on Beijing for the vast majority of raw gallium imports, so it initiated several programs to encourage domestic sourcing and recycling to ensure a steady supply for various sensitive weapon systems. Gallium is critically important in both new GaN and older gallium arsenide (GaAs) modules.

Read More – ‘Radarless’ F-35: Troubled Lockheed Martin Jet Falters over Iran. Modern Fighter “Without Eyes”